


Duty

by Lianria



Series: Thank you for your Service [5]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, game of thrones
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-20
Updated: 2019-09-20
Packaged: 2020-10-24 14:04:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20707247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lianria/pseuds/Lianria
Summary: A military spouses worst nightmare.





	Duty

Gendry walked in the house, dropped his bag on the entryway bench and shrugged off his jacket. He could smell his favorite Thai food from the kitchen. Arya was up to something, she hated Thai food. He had sat through the rants about the vileness of fish sauce enough to know.

  
Nymeria and Mors bounced around his feet in greeting and took off for their chew toys after an appropriate number of pets. 

No sign of Arya.

  
As he walked into the living room he could see the opening credits of Forged In Fire paused on the TV, Thai food take out containers on the coffee table, and a cooler open on the floor filled with ice and his favorite beer, along with two sliced of lemon pie in plastic containers.

  
Ah. Her new orders came in. Arya was leaving.

  
As he stood in the doorway, mentally prepping himself for the news, Arya walked into the living room wearing one of his soccer jerseys and what was likely a very short pair of shorts. He couldn't quite tell as his shirt swamped his wife's small frame.

  
"Hey babe."

  
Her head snapped up and a sad smile formed on her lips.  
"Hey handsome."

  
Gendry kicked off his shoes as he walked over to wrap her in his arms. He knew it would be coming soon, she had completed the language courses the military wanted from her two months ago. He was ready for it, and then again he wasn't.

  
"When do you leave?"

  
Arya buried her face in his shoulder and breathed deeply, his ever present scent of metal and oil and leather comforting her.

  
"Next week."

  
Gendry tightened his arms holding her as close as he could. He buried his face in her hair, wanting to bury himself in the vanilla and pine.

  
"Got your favorite. Chicken and vegetable curry coconut soup with the peanut satay shrimp, lemon cakes and beer. Along with several recorded episodes of that blade smithing competition you love to yell at so much."

  
Arya pulled him along to the couch and cracked open a beer for him before sitting down as close as possible with out actually sitting on him. He draped his arm around her shoulders and grabbed his take out box while she started the show. It was always like this, all of his favorite things to soften the blow of her leaving, followed by days of going over The Book, and spending time with the family.

  
He hated that book, but even he had to admit it was a good idea. It had all of her particulars in case of... he couldn't think about it without his stomach dropping. Before she left they went over plans with her father. Plans for if she came back hurt, plans if she came back dead, and plans if she didn't come back at all. He hated that they had these plans, but he was the first one to say that if anything happened to her he would be the human equivalent of a sock puppet and would in no way be capable of making the choices she would want.

  
For tonight it was just them, eating good food and yelling at people making stupid mistakes when forging sharp objects. Eventually once the food was gone and the cakes eaten, Arya crawled into his lap and pulled both of his arms around her. Neither said anything just hugged the other close. Her face nuzzled into his neck, pressing soft kisses along his pulse point. He turned his face to hers, hands turning her to face him fully on his lap. He kissed her softly, cupping her face in both hands, running his fingers through her short hair. Arya slipped her arms around his neck as he stood, carrying her off to their bedroom.

* * *

  
Ned Stark looked up from the bills in his office to greet his daughter and son in law with a smile, until he saw The Book. He was well familiar with it. Arya had compiled it within a week of her marriage to Gendry, with her fathers help. He sighed and waved them towards the chair in his office.

  
"Orders came in I take it?"

  
"Yeah, I leave next week, gonna be gone about 8 months they think."

  
Gendry paled and squeezed Arya's hand. He hated it when she left, he knew she was more than capable of handling herself. He had to trust that, he had to trust the people in her squad to have her back just as she would have theirs.

  
Ned printed them out the forms for Power of Attorney and all of the other paperwork they needed to have on file for while she was gone. Arya filled out and signed what she needed to, Gendry signed as well while Ned called a notary friend to come witness everything. Gendry moved out to the dining area and took the cup of tea Catelyn offered him.

  
"She got her orders didn't she?"

  
Gendry nodded taking a sip of the hot chamomile tea, its warmth helping him to relax a little bit. Catelyn reached over and hugged him tightly.

  
"You'll be alright and so will she. You know what she's capable of. Your not alone and neither is Arya. And remember you miss more than one family dinner and I will personally come over and drag your butt over here. You need anything you call us, even if its just to sit with an old lady and drink tea."

  
Gendry smiled. Catelyn understood, she had watched her husband go off on whoever many deployments, seen her sons and her daughter go as well. She was well versed in the art of being the one left behind. She was also well aware of Gendry's habit of turning into a hermit the first few weeks after Arya had left. Well he called it being a hermit, Catelyn and Sansa called it pouting and pining.  
Over the next week Gendry took off work while Arya got all of her deployment things situated, including getting her short hair trimmed even shorter. He joked hers was almost shorter than his. They spent as much time as possible together and with the family.

The night before Arya left, Catelyn stuck with her tradition of prepping Arya's favorite foods. And Gendry stuck with his tradition of never actually taking his hands off of her, much to her brothers quiet disgust. Arya refused to allow her family to see her off, saying her goodbyes the night before when everyone was happy and laughing.

  
She quietly took Gendry's hand as the corralled Nymeria and Mors into Gendry's truck. When they got home, the dogs happily settled down with their bed time treats while their owners slowly stripped down, hands running slowly over each other committing every dip and muscle to memory. Gendry scooped her up and gently laid her out on the bed, kissing his way down her body with one goal in mind.

  
Arya gasped as he lapped at her core, gently carding her fingers through his hair. Gendry ate her like a man being presented with his last meal, making sure she felt him in every part of her cunt. Arya finally had enough and sat up and pulled him up to her by his arms and kissed him deeply. She pulled him up over her body, as he gently slipped inside. Slowly and deeply, they never took their eyes off each other, hands clasped tightly together. Arya came with a whimper buried in Gendry's neck as he panted his release into her shoulder. He tried to pull away to lay beside her, but Arya trapped him in a cage of her arms and legs.

  
"No. Stay."

  
"I'm gonna squish you babe."

  
"Don't Care. Don't move."

  
Gendry nuzzled her shoulder feeling her shiver as the sweat on her body dried. Arya whined as he slowly slipped out of her and rolled to clutch her tightly against his chest. He lay awake watching as Arya's eyes slowly drifted closed and her breathing evened out.

  
The next morning, he was awake before her alarm, far before the sun would even start to rise. While she dressed in her uniform and made sure everything was in her bag, Gendry pulled the shirt she had worn for the last several nights over her pillow. He noticed one of his shirts had made its way into her bag as well. Arya slid her wedding ring off and set it on the key holder with her keys.

  
Nymeria and Mors were confused as to why they were being woken up so early and cuddled, but were more than happy to settle back into sleep in their crate, while Gendry loaded Arya's bag into the back of the truck. Arya slid into the front seat and snuggled up to his side once Gendry climbed behind the wheel.

  
The drive to the base was silent. Her hand tightly clasped in his, her head leaning on his shoulder watching the lights from the street lamps glow across his face. She hated this, saying goodbye. She hated seeing the pain in his eyes while he tried to hold it together for her. They walked hand in hand to the check in point, and he went with her as far as he could. She set her bag down and leapt up into his arms.

  
"I love you. So very much."

  
Gendry swallowed.

  
"I love you too. Please promise me you'll be as safe as you can."

  
Arya smiled softly and kissed him.

  
"I'll write as often as I'm able, and as soon as I know what the video chat situation is I will send word."

  
He pressed his forehead to hers one last time as she backed away and picked up her bag. She refused to look away from him until their fingertips could no longer touch. She gave him one last sad smile and turned to join her squad. Gendry looked around at the other spouses and partners saying similar good byes and shook hands with a few of them. They had met a few weeks back at a mixer for the squad so that the one's left behind would have someone to be in contact with so they wouldn't feel as alone.

  
Gendry leaned on the front of his truck watching until the plane took off as the sun rose. He climbed back into the truck and looked to where she had sat just an hour or so earlier. He heaved a deep sigh and drove home to get ready for work.

  
A week later a package of letters came in. She was at a forward operating base, no video calls. He wrote back, sending pictures of the dogs, of the kids at soccer practice and so it began. Letters every week to two weeks for four months, she always included a letter for her parents and short ones for the nieces. They sent her pictures they painted or drew for her, her parents sent her letters. Gendry and Catelyn were able to get a care package put together and shipped over filled with Arya's favorite non melty junk food, and foot powder and deodorant.

  
Gendry was sitting on the couch at Ned and Catelyn's house reading a story to the girls while Catelyn and Sansa set the table, when Theon came in with Catelyn's infamous box to collect cell phones before dinner could start, as she was adamant that phones were not allowed at her table much to the amusement of the adults and the pouts of her younger children. The family had just settled down to eat when a phone ran from within the box. Gendry looked up, that was his ring tone.

  
_Weird._

It rang again before he could stand to retrieve it, after the third time ringing, Ned's phone also started ringing, both men looked at each other before checking the continually ringing phones. Catelyn looked irritated at the two.

Then the house phone rang.

  
Ned snatched it from the wall with a growing sense of dread, looking at Gendry's face growing pale. _There's only one reason someone would be calling so insistently._

"Mr. Stark?"

  
"Speaking."

  
"Sir I'm trying to reach Gendry Baratheon. Husband to Lieutenant Arya Stark."

" One moment. Gendry its for you."

  
Ned handed the phone to Gendry, clamping his hand on the younger mans shoulder, his sons shooting to their feet to move around towards him. Sansa had her mothers hand in a white knuckle grip.

  
"This is Gendry."

  
"Sir, I'm calling to inform you that Lt. Stark and her squad were ambushed on a mission four days ago. She's missing."

  
Gendry's fingers lost their strength letting the phone slip from his hands, as did his knees. Ned caught the phone while the boys caught Gendry. He couldn't breathe. Robb and Jon half carried the bigger man into their fathers office, while their wives tried to calm the now frightened children. Theon moved ahead of them and poured a measure of brown liquid into a glass, once Gendry was set down in a chair the glass was thrust into his hand. He swallowed without ever looking at it. Ned walked in, followed by Catelyn and Sansa. Theon poured a second measure into the glass and Gendry stared at it for a second before swallowing it down as well.

  
"What's happened?"

  
Catelyn's voice was soft as her hands came to rest on Gendry's shoulders.

  
"Ambush. Four days ago."

  
Ned knelt down before the distraught man.

  
"She's missing, but presumed alive son. Hold onto that. She's still alive, we have to believe that."

  
Robb drove Gendry home, with Jon following in his truck. Mors and Nymeria refused to be crated and crawled onto the bed with him. He fell asleep with his arms wrapped around the pillow wearing her shirt.

* * *

  
Over the next few days Gendry noticed a pattern. If he wasn't at work, there was a Stark with him, and if not a Stark a Baratheon. Gendry went through the motions of routine, having the dogs helped. They knew something was wrong, and in response were extra cuddly.

Ned and the boys had called everyone they could think of to see if there was any news, Gendry reached out to the other spouses, most were in a similar panic from lack of news. No members of the squad had been found. Except for one.

Commander Beric Dondarrion's body had been recovered, and his wife Ravella Smallwood- Dondarrion was already arranging for his funeral. His body was already being prepared for return home, his widow refusing to bury him until his squad was found. 

  
On day seven, Gendry was tucked into the Starks couch yet again, with Alysanne and Lyanna curled up beside him watching some movie about a girl who wanted to be a knight like her father while she traipsed through a forest with a boy seeking a fabled sword. The love story made his head hurt. He was trying to drift off to avoid a headache when he felt more than heard his phone ring over the girls off key singing.

  
"Baratheon."

  
"Hey handsome."


End file.
